For the fourth time in five league matches, Real Salt Lake has dropped points after holding a leading position. And for the fifth time in five matches, Real Salt Lake has failed to win a match.

Forgive me for not being totally optimistic about this team.

RSL has, of course, looked good in Leagues Cup play. Some of you are probably dimsissing those first two statements because of that fact. I understand why people are excited about Leagues Cup this year,

Of course, four of RSL’s last five league matches have been on the road. That’s why I’m not particularly focused here on RSL dropping points in five consecutive matches — home matches remain more probable results for all MLS sides, and I want to be sympathetic to playing so much on the road.

What I’m not sympathetic about is dropping points from a leading position, and that’s what we’ve seen a lot of lately. Perhaps I should also add some praise here to RSL for going ahead in these matches, but I don’t know. It seems like faint praise to me.

I’d like to speculate about some reasons why this might be occurring, and I’ll try to cite real evidence.

Aug. 15: RSL 1-1 Minnesota United

RSL missed an 86th minute opportunity to go 2-0 up, and that’s the most proximate major error. RSL had only gone ahead in the 82nd minute through Sergi Solans, who scored a difficult opportunity. Immediately following that, RSL makes two substitutions: Aiden Hezarkhani on for Diego Luna and Victor Olatunji on for Sergi Solans. The goal comes two minutes after the substitutions.

The 89th minute has my biggest complaint: RSL plays backward to Rafa Cabral, who boots it long under basically no pressure. His clearance goes basically to Minnesota’s goalkeeper, who sends it long to Marcus Caldeira. Caldeira wins his header far too easily, and Juanma Sanabria lets Joaquin Pereyra sprint past him. Pereyra then chips Cabral to equalize. But here’s the thing — it never should have happened. RSL surrendered possession cheaply and cowardly, and rather than taking up a compact defensive stance, the team is fully stretched.

It’s an awful goal to give up and entirely avoidable.

Aug. 1: St. Louis 1-1 RSL

This one’s frustrating. RSL is playing out of pressure well enough, trying to keep possession, and Noel Caliskan plays a backward pass to Rafa Cabral. Cabral takes the ball somewhat casually, and he attempts a pass back to Caliskan that never would have come off. Instead, it lands at the feet of Marcel Hartel, and he scores immediately. It’s an individual mistake, but there’s also a pattern-of-play issue here: Why did RSL just cycle back to Cabral in the first place? He was immediately under pressure, and while he let the team down with his decision-making, the team likewise let him down, putting him in that dangerous position.

July 25: Portland 2-1 RSL

Morgan Guilavogui was shown a 33rd minute red card. He made a mistake. I’m not inclined to pile on here, as these situations aren’t usually repeatable in the same way.

May 23: Minnesota United 1-1 RSL

It’s a late equalizer for Minnesota, and this one’s in stoppage time. In the 91st minute, RSL is holding possession and Victor Olatunji has a great moment of strength to keep the ball. Up 1-0, he opts for a low-probability pass to Sergi Solans instead of a safe possession play.

Still, the team manages to get compact in the 93rd minute, and they let Minnesota come at them. Minnesota’s Pereyra swings in a cross after a throw-in, and Mauricio González heads home. He should never have had the opportunity — Justen Glad and Sam Junqua just aren’t coordinated in their set piece defense. Junqua had only just come into the match, subbing on for an injured Lukas Engel.

My biggest problem here is not necessarily that Junqua and Glad couldn’t figure out who was marking whom, but more that Pereyra was given a free cross. Minnesota’s set piece plans there weren’t masked; Pereyra was just standing in a good crodssing position, and RSL was locked in their own box. There was no reason to leave Pereyra free — it was naive.

What can we learn from all this? I suppose for me, it all comes down to a bit of naivity in the team’s play. Putting Rafa Cabral under immediate pressure in two of these four matches — that’s wholly unnecessary, and it’s exposed a real weakness in Cabral’s game. At 36 years old, he’s not getting any better — so why is the team putting their goalkeeper in these positions?

These are the moments that separate good teams from mediocre teams. At the start of the season, it looked very much like RSL could be one of those good teams. Today? I certainly don’t think they’re a bad team — but can they prove they’re more than mediocre? There’s plenty of time — the team’s only halfway through the season. But if this midseason slump isn’t corrected, I fear the answer will be entirely too clear.